Stepball or stoopball (the terms are used synonymously herein) is a game involving one or more players in which a ball is thrown at an outdoor flight of steps or stairway to strike one of the steps and rebound back toward the players. The object of the game is for a player to catch a ball thrown at the stairway after it has rebounded off one of the steps.
Because a suitable stoop or outdoor stairway may be unavailable or inaccessible for a variety of reasons, several portable stepball apparatus have been proposed by which players may conceivably play stepball in such places as a street, a parking lot, a playground, a park or campground, a back yard, a school yard, a driveway, or the beach or virtually any other outdoor location. Examples of such apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,133,531; 5,407,210; 5,531,449; 5,967,519 and 6,585,610.
Of these, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,531,449 and 6,585,610 disclose devices comprising front and rear panels joined at an upper edge to form an assembly which, in operation, assumes the shape of an inverted “V”. The sloped front panel of these devices functions as the game playing surface.
Classic stepball is played against an actual stoop or outdoor stairway consisting of steps having horizontal foot-supporting tread portions and vertical riser portions. In contrast, the sloped front panels U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,531,449 and 6,585,610 merely have slightly raised ridges or protrusions provided along sloping “riser” portions of the sloped front panel. The ridges or protrusions are neither structurally nor functionally equivalent in size, shape, depth, orientation or surface area to a tread portion of a step of a conventional stairway. And the slope of the “riser” portions of the front panel distorts the rebound that would be realized by a conventional vertical step riser. As such, the apparatus taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,531,449 and 6,585,610 are in many ways incapable of simulating the rebound characteristics of stepball played on a conventional stairway.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,133,531; 5,407,210 and 5,967,519 disclose portable stepball apparatus having essentially vertical riser portions and essentially horizontal tread portions. While the apparatus disclosed in these patents more closely simulate the experience of “classic” stepball, they still cannot produce an optimal stepball experience.
In particular, none of these disclosures teach the use of a rebound ball game which, when in the game playing position, provides for a true stepball experience, yet is readily transportable in a stored position. In addition, the prior art fails to disclose the use of “nosing” on the forward or player-facing edges of the treads which protrude over (i.e., overhang) the risers beneath. The significance of nosing is that, in combination with treads of substantial depth (unlike the mere ridges or protrusions described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,531,449 and 6,585,610), a ball which strikes the nosing—in contrast with a simple “noseless” riser/tread edge—will undergo more complicated and unpredictable bounces, caroms or rebounds, thereby enhancing the challenge of a stepball game. That is, tread nosing produces an element of rebound unpredictability which is unattainable by the aforementioned patents.
An advantage exists, therefore, for a portable stepball game apparatus including a stairway with at least one step having an essentially vertical riser portion and an essentially horizontal tread portion and further including nosing on the forward or player-facing edges of the tread portion(s) which protrudes over the riser portions therebeneath, whereby the apparatus enables players to enjoy a more challenging experience than heretofore offered by portable stepball/stoopball devices heretofore known in the art.
The present invention is unique, as well, in its portability in handling and transport. It is designed such that one person can lift the carrying case of the invention with one hand and easily move it from location to location. It is, in fact, a game having a unique pivotable stairway configuration which is readily housed for storage in a case specifically designed to be carried. As such, the design and functionality of the game, coupled with its lightweight and ease of portability, can not be considered analogous in either design or function to large, vertically moveable riser systems used on stages or auditoriums.